Calories Burned Calculator - MET × Weight × Time

A calories burned calculator multiplies three numbers: an activity’s MET (metabolic equivalent of task), body mass in kilograms, and duration in hours. One MET is defined as resting metabolic rate in the original teaching sense, operationalized as 3.5 ml of oxygen per kilogram per minute. A convenient energy identity used on consumer sites is kcal ≈ MET × kg × hours, which treats 1 MET as about 1 kcal per kg per hour. Walking at 3.5 MET for a 70 kg person for 60 minutes is 3.5 × 70 × 1 = 245 kcal, the default check on this page.

Exercise physiology labs often write kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × kg / 200, because 3.5 ml O₂/kg/min × 60 min × 5 kcal per litre O₂ (a round factor) ÷ 1000 ml/L yields about 1.05 kcal/kg/hour per MET. That ACSM-style product for the same walk is 3.5 × 3.5 × 70 / 200 × 60 = 257.25 kcal, roughly 5% higher. This page computes the 245 kcal identity as the primary result and shows the oxygen form as a related classroom check so you can see they are cousins, not rival religions. Neither is a medical energy-expenditure (EE) test. Indirect calorimetry, doubly labelled water, and room calorimeters measure; MET tables assign a typical intensity label to an activity name.

Presets here are round Compendium-style values: walk 3.5, easy jog 7, running about 6 mph 9.8, moderate cycling 7.5, swimming 6, strength training 6, yoga 2.5, plus custom MET. Real Compendium codes split walking by speed and grade, cycling by watts, and “yoga” into many styles. Two people “jogging easy” can differ by tens of percent because of economy, rest intervals, and how honestly they name the session. Watch-based calorie totals use heart rate and vendor secret sauce; they will not match 245 on purpose.

Daily TDEE is a different question. Use the calorie calculator and BMR calculator. Running clock math is the pace calculator. Strength loading is the one-rep max calculator. This page only scales MET × mass × time.

1. Pick an activity MET or enter a custom value from a published table you trust.
2. Enter body weight in kilograms (or pounds, converted with 2.2046226218 lb/kg) and duration in minutes.
3. Read kcal = MET × kg × hours. The default walk is 245 kcal. The related ACSM-style number is shown for comparison only.
4. Treat the result as an average, not a prescription. Copy if needed. Inputs stay in this browser up to 30 days.

Easy jog 7 MET, 70 kg, 30 minutes: 7 × 70 × 0.5 = 245 kcal coincidentally the same as the one-hour walk. Running 9.8 MET for 70 kg and 30 minutes: 9.8 × 70 × 0.5 = 343 kcal. Moderate cycling 7.5 MET, 80 kg, 45 minutes: 7.5 × 80 × 0.75 = 450 kcal. Yoga 2.5 MET, 60 kg, 60 minutes: 2.5 × 60 × 1 = 150 kcal. Strength 6 MET, 90 kg, 40 minutes: 6 × 90 × (40/60) = 360 kcal-but lifting includes rest between sets, so a continuous 6 MET assumption often overstates the hour.

Heavier bodies cost more at the same MET by construction: 100 kg walking 3.5 MET for an hour is 350 kcal. That is not a moral grade; it is mass in the formula. Fitness can lower the true oxygen cost of a given speed (better economy), which means the named MET may be too high for an efficient runner and too low for an inefficient one. Children, pregnancy, and some neuromuscular conditions need clinical EE methods, not this adult classroom product.

NEAT (fidgeting, standing, walking to the kettle) can rival a gym session over 24 hours and is invisible here. EPOC (“afterburn”) is usually small relative to the bout for moderate work. Do not add a 20% afterburn fudge factor; this page will not.

The Compendium of Physical Activities assigns codes such as walking 3.0 mph on a firm surface versus 3.5 mph, or cycling 12–13.9 mph versus 16–19 mph. Our presets collapse those families into one teaching number so the form stays usable. If you have a specific code (for example a listed 4.3 MET walk), use custom MET.

Wrist accelerometers estimate METs from movement counts. Chest-strap heart rate can be mapped through a vendor curve. Both can be useful for trends and still disagree with 245 kcal for the default walk. Stationary bikes with watt readouts allow a power-based energy estimate (watts × seconds / 4184 for mechanical kcal, then a gross-efficiency factor); that is not this tool.

Swimming METs vary with stroke and rest at the wall. “Yoga 2.5” may fit restorative classes and under-shoot vinyasa. “Strength 6” during a circuit with little rest is a different session from five-minute rests on heavy squats. Name the session honestly or the product is theatre.

Eating 245 kcal extra because “the walk earned it” is a common way estimates and snacks fail to match. Energy balance also includes BMR, TEF, and the rest of the day. Disordered eating can latch onto calorie-burn numbers; this page is not a punishment meter. If food or exercise thoughts are taking over, contact a clinician.

Thyroid disease, beta blockers, fever, and amputation change energy cost. We will not adjust MET for those. Body-fat and BMI pages (BMI, Navy body fat) also do not measure kcal burned.

Worked extras: 3.5 MET × 55 kg × 0.5 h = 96.25 kcal. 9.8 MET × 70 kg × 1 h = 686 kcal. 7.5 MET × 90 kg × 2 h = 1,350 kcal. Custom 4.3 MET × 70 kg × 1 h = 301 kcal. Those are formula drills, not goals.

Group fitness clocks often include coaching talk, water breaks, and setup. If 20 of 60 minutes were standing, a 6 MET strength preset overstates the hour. A better classroom move is to split bouts: 20 minutes at 6 MET plus 40 minutes at 1.5 MET (quiet standing is often tabulated near 1.3–1.8). This page runs one MET at a time so you stay honest about the mix. Circuits with little rest sit closer to the named MET; five-minute rests between heavy sets do not.

Occupational METs (nursing, warehouse walking, teaching) belong in daily TDEE activity factors more than in a single “workout” box. Using this calculator to “earn” a second dessert every time you walk the dog is how small overestimates compound. The 245 kcal default walk is already gross energy during the hour, conceptually including the 1 MET you would have spent on the couch for part of that time. Subtracting resting MET to get “net” is a different convention some papers use; this page does not subtract, matching the simple MET × kg × hours identity the default check requires.

Adaptive equipment, hand cycling, and wheelchair propulsion have their own Compendium rows. Do not paste “cycling 7.5” onto a handbike session. Pregnancy energy cost is not a non-pregnant MET table. Children are not 70 kg adults. We will not add a “for kids” toggle that misapplies adult METs.

Wearable vendors sometimes show “active calories” and “total calories.” Active is closer to net; total is closer to gross plus the rest of the day. Neither is this 245. If your watch and this page disagree, believe the trend on one instrument rather than averaging incompatible definitions. Laboratory EE remains the reference when clinical decisions depend on energy, which everyday fitness tracking almost never should.

Unique localStorage on this tool remembers MET choice, kilograms, and minutes for 30 days. That is not a food log. For daily planning use the calorie calculator; for composition screening, BMI or Navy body fat. None of those pages is a medical EE test, and neither is this one.

Search queries include “calories burned walking 60 minutes,” “MET calculator kg,” and “how many calories is a 3.5 MET walk.” For 70 kg the hour walk is 245 kcal on this identity. A 90 kg person at the same MET and hour is 315 kcal. A 30 minute easy jog at 7 MET for 70 kg is also 245 kcal, which surprises people who think jogging must “burn more” than walking regardless of time. Time is in the product. Halve the minutes, halve the estimate at the same MET and mass. Double the MET at the same minutes and mass, double the estimate. That linearity is a teaching feature and a limitation: biology is less linear than MET × kg × hours.

Household chores have Compendium rows too (vacuuming, cooking, folding laundry) that are often 2–4 MET. You can enter those as custom MET if you have a number you trust. Snow shoveling and load-carrying spike much higher and also spike injury risk; a calorie estimate is not a reason to ignore cardiovascular warning symptoms. If a session includes both walking and jogging, compute two bouts and add them rather than averaging METs without weighting by time.

Standing quietly is often near 1.3 MET. Sitting at a desk is near 1.3–1.5. If you “work out” by walking 3.5 MET for 60 minutes, the incremental cost versus sitting is closer to (3.5 − 1.4) × 70 × 1 ≈ 147 kcal, which is why some papers talk net versus gross. This page reports gross MET × kg × hours (245 for the default walk) because that is the identity the default check requires. Do not mix a net watch number with this 245 and conclude the watch is “broken.”

Occupational examples for custom MET homework: a 70 kg nurse on her feet for 8 h at an assumed 2.5 MET is 2.5 × 70 × 8 = 1,400 kcal gross for that block, which already includes rest MET conceptually and is not a license to eat 1,400 extra kcal of snacks. Warehouse walking at 3.5 MET for 4 h at 80 kg is 3.5 × 80 × 4 = 1,120 kcal. Those are classroom products, not payroll physiology. Injury risk, heat, and load carriage are not in the MET label.

Running 9.8 MET (about 6 mph) for 70 kg and 20 minutes is 9.8 × 70 × (20/60) = 228.7 kcal, close to the default hour walk despite a shorter clock. That comparison is why “I only have 20 minutes so I must sprint” is not a law-it is a preference. Easy jog 7 MET for 40 minutes at 70 kg is 327 kcal. Yoga 2.5 MET for 90 minutes at 55 kg is 206 kcal. Strength 6 MET for 45 minutes at 100 kg is 450 kcal before you admit the rest between sets.

Default remains walk 3.5 MET, 70 kg, 60 min → 245 kcal. METs are averages. Not a medical EE test. Unique calories-burned-split-track, 30-day storage, copy and clear.